Chapter 19 - ONE YEAR LATER
One year after the freezer incident, October returned.
The first snow came early.
Lily watched it through my living room window.
She was seven now.
Taller.
Louder.
More opinionated.
She complained about vegetables and left socks everywhere.
It was wonderful.
Her therapist had reduced sessions to twice a month.
Nightmares were rare.
Closets no longer frightened her.
Freezers still did.
So I replaced mine with an upright model that could be opened easily from the inside and explained every safety feature to her.
She inspected it like a building engineer.
Then asked if we could keep popsicles in the top drawer.
We did.
Taylor had completed a year of therapy and parenting classes.
Her visits were no longer professionally supervised.
For the first time, Lily was allowed to spend an afternoon alone with her.
The decision belonged to a judge.
But emotionally, the decision belonged to Lily.
I asked if she wanted to go.
She said yes.
Then she packed three stuffed animals “just in case.”
Taylor arrived at noon.
She looked nervous.
Lily looked nervous too.
I knelt beside her.
“You can call me anytime.”
“I know.”
“And if you want to come home, I come get you.”
“I know.”
Taylor heard every word.
She didn’t take offense.
“I’ll bring her back whenever she asks.”
Lily looked between us.
“Can we stop being weird now?”
Taylor and I both laughed.
Six hours later, they returned.
Lily ran inside carrying a ceramic bowl she had painted.
“We made this.”
Taylor stood at the doorway.
“How was it?”
I asked Lily.
“Mom burns cookies.”
Taylor raised an eyebrow.
“They were slightly overdone.”
“They were black.”
We laughed again.
Then Lily ran upstairs.
Taylor remained at the door.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For giving me a chance I didn’t deserve.”
I shook my head.
“I didn’t give it to you.”
“Lily did.”
Taylor nodded.
“That’s better.”
Before she left, she handed me an envelope.
Inside was a letter from Evelyn.
It had been screened by attorneys.
Addressed to Lily.
Taylor had not opened it.
“What do you want to do?”
I asked.
Taylor looked toward the stairs.
“Nothing.”
“Not unless Lily asks someday.”
I put the letter inside the locked legal file.
Not destroyed.
May you like
Not delivered.
For once, Evelyn’s words did not decide what happened next.
